Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has assured team boss Stefano Domenicali his job is secure for next season – but expects him to deliver on promises made this week.

Making his annual pilgrimage to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, Di Montezemolo took the acclaim of a half-empty grandstand ahead of qualifying.

The Italian then watched drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa finish fourth and sixth, which on home soil was not the performance Di Montezemolo would have expected, but not much of a surprise due to Ferrari’s mediocre season to date.

Despite only delivering one title approaching the end of his fourth season in charge, and in light of mounting speculation as to his future, Di Montezemolo has told Domenicali he will remain at the helm for a fifth year in 2012.

Asked if he was committed to Domenicali for next season and beyond, Di Montezemolo replied: “The answer to the question, in one word, is yes.

“We won the championship (with Kimi Raikkonen) in 2007, and then we lost at the last corner of the last lap of the last race in 2008.

“Then last yeapossible to do, r we did something that I thought was imbut again we lost the championship at the last race.

“Don’t forget that since 1997, except for 2005 and 2009, Ferrari has always won, or if we’ve not won, lost the championship at the last race. So Ferrari has always been at the top.

“When Todt (former team principal Jean) left the company (at the end of 2007), it meant a new era, new people, a new mentality.

“Domenicali is very committed, and I am sorry for him, for me and the tifosi (Ferrari fans) we did not win last year, and that we do not have a competitive car this year.

“So the target for next year, as always, is to win.”

Domenicali this week made bold statements that foundations are being built for a new era of Ferrari dominance, that his team are ready to reclaim the summit from Red Bull.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has already claimed that “talk is cheap” and that nobody can make such a prediction given F1 is too competitive and unpredictable.

Despite putting himself in a position to fall, Di Montezemolo said of Domenicali: “I am very happy my team manager is so confident, and I look forward he will be in a position to deliver.

“I am happy to say this because it means he has a deep commitment to deliver, firstly to the tifosi, so he will be very busy doing that.”

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